SMDC's Messervy retiring from government service after decades in technology, missile defense work

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Dr. Steven Messervy takes a long green tube with a pistol grip and rudimentary sights down from a wooden display plaque on the wall of his office on Redstone Arsenal. It's what's left behind after firing an SA-7 MANPAD or "manned portable" guided missile originally designed by the former Soviet Union.

"This is what they shoot at our helicopters," he said, referring to enemies around the world as he shouldered the weapon.

In the late 1990s, this particular SA-7 was bought and used for tests Messervy was conducting at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. At the time, he was project manager for Army Aviation Electronic Systems, part of the Program Executive Office for Aviation on the arsenal. His team was developing electronic countermeasures to protect pilots and crews against these kinds of weapons, and presented the empty missile tube to Messervy when he left in 2001.

Since then, Messervy has been the Army's assistant program executive officer Aviation; the Department of Defense program manager for the Joint Simulation System in Orlando, Fla.; Army deputy PEO for Missiles & Space; general manager of the NATO Medium Extended Air Defense System Management Agency and more. In November 2008, he went to the Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command and soon became deputy to the commander - a "third tier" position in the Army's Senior Executive Service which makes him the civilian equivalent of a three-star general.

Today, the 58-year-old Messervy is preparing for his retirement, set for March 2. He said it won't be easy to cut his direct connection with the Army after more than 36 years of government service that includes three decades as an Army Reserve officer.

Also, his dad, Lavon Messervy, was a Pershing missile officer, and the family regularly moved from home in Huntsville to assignments in Germany and elsewhere.

"It's going to be bittersweet," Messervy said. "I was one of these Army brats that went to 10 schools in 12 years. ... From my beginnings, the Army has always been a part of my life."

At SMDC, Messervy's routine day might include overseeing development on laser beams and other directed-energy weapons and defense programs, an Advanced Hypersonic Weapon, small "nanosatellites" and launch systems, high-altitude sensor and communications platforms, and other leading-edge research. His decades of service includes work on Unmanned Aircraft Systems and a wide range of sophisticated missile defense programs.

In the 1980s, working on the Missile Review Board, he was part of the group trying to convince the government that "hit-to-kill" technology was a feasible defense against missile attacks. Today's successful Patriot Advanced Capability 3 and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems are the result, after years of development that built on early test failures.

"Now, people don't think anything about having a PAC-3 hit another missile, or having THAAD hit another missile," Messervy said. "We've seen that technology come a long way and that's really gratifying ...

"There's been a lot of pioneers that I've gotten to work with that made a lot of those things happen. That's what you look back on and say, that was a pretty cool time."

The SA-7 tube on prominent display seems rustic by comparison, but is a powerful reminder of the deadly threat faced by his customers, the soldiers and others around the world whose lives depend on equipment and programs developed and managed at the arsenal.

"One of the things that really stands out a lot for me is the opportunity I've had to work with a lot of super people," Messervy said. "Pretty much all of my experiences at Redstone have been great because of the people that have stepped up and done the work."

His assignments took him to Washington, D.C., in 1975, but Messervy said he was glad to get the chance to return to Redstone in 1977. The people in D.C. told him he was crazy to go back to Alabama at that point in his career. He told them it's not every day you can get a good job in your hometown.

Messervy knew the Huntsville/Redstone Arsenal partnership was a best-kept secret - "a pearl in a bowl of grits," he said, quoting U.S. News and World Reports. "The breadth of what we have, from biotech to missile and aviation technology, cyber technology, all these things, it just continues to grow."

Messervy earned two degrees from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, as well as a master's from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was named a Sloan Fellow. There were Army schools, too, along with the work over the years, and he said it wouldn't all have been possible without the support of his wife, Donna, a Huntsville native.

"We grew up with Huntsville shaking from the Saturn V engines and all those things," he said. "We kind of all had missile stuff in our blood a long time ago."

The Messervys have four children. All have earned post-graduate degrees and are out of school, he said, so it seems like now is finally a good time to consider retirement from government.

But not from work.

Messervy expects to interview with companies and, perhaps, universities, for his next job. But they'll be staying in the Rocket City. The grandchildren are here, and so are opportunities with defense companies and universities.

Messervy said he mentioned to his wife that it's possible a good offer could come for work in another state.

Her reply?

"If you can't find something to do in Huntsville, something's wrong. My plan is to stay here with the grandchildren. Now, if you go somewhere, I'll be right here when you get back."